Recap

In a forest, an old man dressed in homespun is forced to climb up a tree when a dog attacks him. The dog’s owner shows up: a humanoid ape boy. However, a spaceship crashes near by, scaring both of them. The boy, Arno, runs away with his dog and the old man, Farrow, goes to investigate. The ship’s door open and he climbs inside to find three men: one is dead and the other two unconscious...

Zaius: You're fools, you know that. You could have been out of the city by now.Peter: He saved our lives – you expect us to leave him here to die?Zaius: You're strange humans.

Episode Goofs

The date of the crash shown here (March 31, 3085) doesn't correspond with the date shown in the opening credits (June 14, 3085).

Analysis

Whether due to the relatively low budget, or deliberate intent, or both, the show takes great pains to use aspects from the movies and establish itself as part of that continuity. The most noticeable is Roddy McDowell, who appears in four of the five Ape movies playing a chimpanzee. Zaius the orangutan appears here, although clearly not the same character from the first two movies because of the timeframe. The spaceship mockup from the first three movies is used here for the astronaut's spacecraft. And finally, footage of Ape City from the first two movies is used here as stock footage for Central City where Zaius and Urko are set up.